soil

Soil is the dirt between our fingers as we garden or farm, from which all living things come and to which, as the poets never tire of reminding us, all life eventually returns. Such a big meaning for such a little word.

To soil something also means to make it dirty, or to degrade it in some way — strange given the natural purity of soil. Sometimes nations talk about their soil, meaning the geographical area over which they have governance. In England in the eighteenth and nineteenth century the euphemism "night soil" was used to describe the contents of the commodes people kept under their bed. But you probably didn't want to know that.